Perspective is Everything.

Category Archives: The Journey

Life is full of responsibilities. We work. Pay bills. Take care of the needs of our family. Meet our various obligations to the church and community…and then, we have our passions. You know, passions. Those things in life that we feel we are good at or want to be good at. Those things in life that sparks and lights fire in our soul. Passion is what makes us feel alive.

Feeling good about something you like is awesome.

Feeling awesome about something you love is passion.

We all have a purpose in life. If we have a purpose, we also must have a passion.

I think we can have many passions. What ever fuels our energy and drives us to move is a passion.

Some if not most of you may already know what my passions are. I have a passion for writing. Writing words that release an energy. Energy that can fill a heart, a room, a mind or soul with hope. I have a passion for photography. I see the beauty before the picture is even taken. Images express when words cannot. I have a passion for children. This desire for making a difference in the life of a child is incredible. And what’s so amazing is when all three passions come together to create this beautiful thing called purpose.

Now, what I want you to do is think for a moment of what your passion is. What is that one thing you have a constant craving for that fulfills your purpose in life? How does it make you feel? What power does it give in order to help others? If you could draw a mental picture, what would your passion look like?

Now…take a moment and watch this short but powerful video. You won’t regret it.

If you can, reflect again on your passions. If you’re like me…they don’t even come close to the passion Jesus has for us.

Throughout life, Jesus had many passions but none more important than proclaiming His Father’s glory and loving us even with all out hurts, habits and hang-ups. His passion was life for all. For us to “come awake” and fulfill our passions through and for Him.

After watching the video, What does “come awake” mean to you?

Please share your thoughts. They may spark a passion in another person’s life.

Like this:

Can you think of a moment when you felt powerless? A moment in time when you had no control over a situation and you had no idea how to deal with it? I can.

I was only a month away from having my first child. I was driving. I was driving in December on a country road covered with snow and unseen black ice. I remember it well. Just trying to get from point A to point B and thinking about my days’ events. I was halfway home. Then, in a moments breath, I found myself in a whirlwind as my car spun out of control. I knew I was in the middle of an uncontrollable moment and was clueless of how to gain power. Hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life, I took my foot off the pedals and let come what may. Not aware of any on coming traffic…not seeing the full situation…and only focusing on when the car would finally stop, all I could say loudly was, “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?”

What seemed like an eternity, was over in seconds. After making several complete circles, the car stopped in the opposite direction that I was traveling, on the right side of the road. Heading back to where I had just come from, I looked in all directions. No cars were coming. I gained my composer and headed for home.

What did I learn from this? Well, #1 Black ice is real and bigger than me. #2 I was powerless.

In life, we can have many obstacles that render us powerless.

I know of a woman who faced an even more powerless situation than I ever have.

The story opens with few prominent business men who had an agenda to take down the town’s leader, the good guy. They were tired of his ethics and values and their plot was to catch him breaking a law. A woman, who had broken the law and caught in the immoral act was exposed to the town in all her ugliness. The sentence for her crime could have been execution. Death. She had become powerless. They took her to the leader with their proof and accusations hoping he would agree with their decision. Hoping to entrap him. The story began with the prominent business men wanting to expose her but the plot thickens as they now want to bring down the respected towns leader along with her.

Just imagine being prosecuted before the town among all you know. Publicly humiliated in front of all your friends and family. All your guilt and shame is an open book for all to read. You are powerless.

I pause for a moment to reflect on the woman. Who is she? Would you be offended if I said she was you? She’s also me. We have all sinned. Sometimes we are caught, sometimes we’re not. We all know guilt. We all know shame.

Now, let’s get back to the story. As the men threw her to the leader and the town’s people, they lay the facts out on the table. “She is guilty. The law says to kill her,” they said. “What do you say?”

The leader stooped down and began writing something.

Again….I emphasize, she was powerless.

“What do you say?” they asked.

The merciful leader exposed the men of their hypocrisy. How could they expose her when they were guilty of immorality themselves?

He bent down again and began writing. One by one, the crowd dispersed. Their plan backfired. The woman went her way and was told to not be found guilty of this again.

Like this:

Her day was like any other day, until she received the call. The distant voice on the other end explaining her daughter had been in a fatal accident. As she held the phone, the static noise was heard. She continued to clinch the phone even after the call had ended. This was her last connection to her sweet sixteen year old. She stood in tears and screamed, “NO! NO!”NO!” as the lump in her throat grew large. DENIAL! Her life had forever changed.

Trauma was faced. Shock and denial had set in.

Some of us may be able to relate to a similar life tragedy. A psychological whirlwind blew in and left us in a place of unconscious denial. This type of denial may be normal and somewhat, helpful. But, if the denial remains…you may need to find healthy ways to cope.

Have you ever been faced with denial?

If you have ever been faced with a fact, condition, or life changing event that has been too uncomfortable to accept but rather, rejected it…then you have been in denial. Denial comes in many forms. In fact, it is totally possible to deny denial.

Sometimes, we may feel trapped from our hurts, habits and hangups. Sometimes we can get stuck in the past from our bad decisions and afraid to move forward. We worry about the turns, twists and unseen curves in the road ahead…unsure of which way to go. We can’t go back but don’t want to go forward and staying where we are isn’t a choice.

We say, “I’m ok. I don’t need to change.”

What do we do?

Let’s first look at what D E N I A L does:

D isables- our feelings. If we hide and bury our feelings and live in denial, our emotions become frozen and traps us.

Energy Lost– but if we move that energy which maintains our denial into an active learning through God’s Word, a healthier love for self and others will occur.

N egates Growth– Growth is stunted through denial but God can remove us from the darkness and allow light to break through. All we have to do is take the first step.

I solates– We can never be in a true relationship with God as long as we deny our struggles and secrets.

A lienates– Denial distances us from others because we are afraid to reveal our true selves. We fear what others may think.

L engthens the Pain– By allowing denial to grow and causing guilt and shame just lengthen the pain even longer.

As we can see, denial may only be short six letter word, but it can cause long-term issues, if we allow it. Denial is a road block…a roadblock that keeps us from discovering and experiencing the freedom of God. We look at freedom as doing what we want to do. But true freedom of God is actually not about the things we are free to do, but rather, freedom from things we are not to do. If we experience this type of freedom, we are free to make better choices and not mess up our lives.

Have you seen denial in others? Are you denying something in your life? It may be easier to see denial in others rather than in ourselves. Truth is a lot like surgery: It hurts but it heals. But if you are stuck in a negative situation and are in denial, just think about the potential negative consequences you may face if action isn’t taken.

Please allow yourself to open up and express your fears and emotions. Examine yourself and if you think you’re stuck in denial, seek advice from a trusted friend, or support group.

In Jeremiah 30:17 (NIV): God promises, “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds.”

Like this:

I have recently become involved with a program “Celebrate Recovery,” founded by John Baker, which is a Biblically Based Program that helps us overcome our hurts, hangups, and habits. I say us, because we all have hurts, hangups and habits. We are all human. We are all tainted in some way or another, whether it be with our thoughts, emotions and habits in our various lives.

You may be familiar with groups such as AA’s 12 Step Program. Although these groups are very successful in helping with recovery, God is left out of the journey. Through Celebrate Recovery, the Journey is based on recovery through God.

There are six unique features in which the program is based on:

Celebrate Recovery is based on God’s Word, the Bible.

Celebrate Recovery is looking-forward.

Celebrate Recovery emphasizes personal responsibility.

Celebrate Recovery emphasizes spiritual commitment to Christ.

Celebrate Recovery holds to the biblical truth that we need each other to grow emotionally and spiritually.

Celebrate Recovery deals with all types of hurts, hangups and habits.

My role in the program is working with the youth (ages 5th-12th Grade) where we come together once a week to discover the truth within ourselves, each other and with God through our journey. A typical Celebrate Recovery Meeting includes a pre-meeting dinner, a large group meeting, an open share small group, and Newcomers 101. Each group is designed for a specific purpose through prayer, praise, worship, teaching and opening up to a deeper relationship with each other as well as, God and Christ, through our hurts, hangups and habits.

This Page “The Journey” is my reflection through journaling my experiences within this group. My goal is to share this with you, the reader, so you will know and understand that you are not alone. We all are in need of help through this journey.

I look forward to this journey with you as we learn, grow and experience life together.

Please look for my post next Saturday which will deal with the topic of Denial.